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Gov Charlie Baker (R) MA joins the US Climate Alliance

V

Vilix

Unconfirmed Member
The state of Texas will never join. But cities like Houston and Austin will.
 
Yeah, New England Republicans (ignore Maine, we all do) tend to be the only sane ones of the lot. Gov Baker is good people.

I'm sure Chris Sununu will manage to make you regret saying that.

as someone that helped the campaign in NH I still don't get how the fuck Hillary and Maggie won in NH yet somehow Colin lost to Sununu
 

LiK

Member
Baker has disagreed with almost everything Trump has done this year. Wish he would just switch to being a Democrat. It fits him more.
 
R1280x0
.
 

boiled goose

good with gravy
Regarding MA Republicans.

MA is so blue that the Democrats in power here are extremely corrupt. Moderate Republicans can win if they dont seem uber corrupt.

Another aspect to remember is that MA is also a very wealthy state. Connections and knowing the right people matter. Lots of businesses interests can skew things not only between parties but within them

There are also lots of progressive Democrats too. But they are not the ones in power in the house, which in ma the house has more power than the senate.
 

Linkura

Member
A Republican? Must not be a safe district.

I guess you know nothing of MA politics. Many of our governors have been Republican and most would be considered Democrat virtually everywhere else in the country. He has also has the highest approval rating of any governor in the country.

He's done a decent job so far, even if he's hesitated on some issues for longer than he should have. Don't regret voting for him in the least. But we'll see who his opponent is when he's up for election.
 
It almost seems like Trump is the real-life version of Lelouch Lamperouge.

He is uniting people by trying to be the most detestable human being on the planet.
 

p2535748

Member
Thanks for the answers. Considering I never hear Baker's name come up when people are taking about Republican governors doing stupid shit, I guess that make sense.

Also, with the rate that states and cities are joining in, I expect the Southern state holdouts to be the only ones not signed on in the coming days (as usual).

That last one is the most correct, IMO. This state is very blue with a very regimented Democratic party, and every once in awhile the Democrats get it into their head they can get away with anything and nominate someone who's "put in their time" instead of the best candidate. Coakley was a terrible candidate, completely unwilling to do any of the standard campaigning stuff (at one point she was incredulous that people wanted her to go out and shake hands in public). She really came off as assuming the job was hers.

I've got some real problems with Baker's proposals, but he's not awful and I can understand why people voted for him. Coakley was just so unlikeable to so many people.
 

Patryn

Member
It's also interesting to note that Baker has the highest approval rate of any governor in the US. It's currently at 75 percent.

As a MA resident, I kind of understand why. He hasn't really done that much that has pissed me off, and he's done a bunch of things that I like.
 
It's also interesting to note that Baker has the highest approval rate of any governor in the US. It's currently at 75 percent.

As a MA resident, I kind of understand why. He hasn't really done that much that has pissed me off, and he's done a bunch of things that I like.

It's hard to have a low approval rating in MA, to be fair.

I've lived here for a bit now and I've yet to see one.
 

Patryn

Member
Might want to read the stories,
Texas has its major cities in, Tennessee has cities in, Atlanta Georgia is in, couple in Florida.

Cities, yes. Whole states, no.

But I doubt all the North will join. I suspect it'll mostly be the West Coast and the Northeast.
 

Fuzzery

Member
It almost seems like Trump is the real-life version of Lelouch Lamperouge.

He is uniting people by trying to be the most detestable human being on the planet.
It's pretty great in a way, instead of being apathetic about the environment ppl are getting pretty worked up
 
Baker can be rational but he's definitely still a Republican, just not a Trump nutter. He did try to push that charter school bullshit last year. Luckily most of the voters were too smart to fall for that crap. Good for him on this though.
 

TyrantII

Member
Might want to read the stories,
Texas has its major cities in, Tennessee has cities in, Atlanta Georgia is in, couple in Florida.

Radical right wing state governments will put a stop to that soon enough, just as they've taken away local power on sanctuary cities, bathroom laws, and wage laws.
 
"You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need"

The first lines to the song trump would play after he left stage after he finished his rallies.

Something almost tangibly prescient about it to this day.
 

Blader

Member
Because Martha Coakley keeps insisting on running for office.
2018 will be her time at last!

Baker can be rational but he's definitely still a Republican, just not a Trump nutter. He did try to push that charter school bullshit last year. Luckily most of the voters were too smart to fall for that crap. Good for him on this though.
The ad he cut for that was so infuriating.
 
A Republican? Must not be a safe district.

Baker is the most popular governor (perhaps most popular politician) in the US. He's been enjoying a 75% approval rating in a heavily Democratic state, largely for doing things like this.

He's done a very good job in Massachusetts, which has the lowest unemployment rate in the country (well, did at least up to April, not sure about May), the highest wages, the best school system, and he's closed a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, as well as other populist measures (tolls removed on the T, two successful MBTA seasons after 5 disastrous ones, helped GE move its corporate HQ to Boston, new tech jobs, unveiled free college plan w/ Democratic mayor of Boston, and he's worked really well with the Democratic legislature in the state, criticized Trump on Climate deal, criticized Trump on immigration, criticized Trump on anti-LGBTQ, criticized trump on firing Comey).

There are three Democrats who have announced they'll be running against him in 2018, but so far, none are really able to gain any footing.

Privately he's a very nice, personable, soft-spoken person who seems genuinely interested in listening to people. Had the chance to meet him at a teacher's union event last year. He's also a giant of a man.. like 6'7" with enormous hands. I'd love to see Baker, Comey, and Obama take on Trump, Kushner, and Bannon in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament. It'd be like NBA Street when you get Stretch, Yeti, and Bonafide on a single team.

It's hard to have a low approval rating in MA, to be fair.

You might be forgetting Jane Swift ;)

But for what it's worth, Baker has had a higher approval than Deval Patrick and Mitt Romney; Patrick was still a popular governor, Romney was initially popular as well but waned as he focused on a national career. You are right that Massachusetts always has a blindspot for some of its politicians, considering that something like 4 or 5 speakers of the MA house had been indicted in a row, and yet they all enjoyed relatively high approval ratings from their constituents even when they were facing criminal charges.

well, he vetoed the HC reform but it was pushed through by 2/3rds majority.

Not really... Romney enacted the health care reform bill, but line-item vetoed 8 sections of it, which the MA legislature over-rode eventually. The MA governor has line-item veto authority, so he can sign any appropriations bill while vetoing specific elements of it. THe biggest veto at the time was the equivalent of the employer mandate (Called the 'Assessment' in MA), which Romney vetoed because he wanted it either cut down from 11 employees to 8, or from ~$300/employee penalty to ~$150/employee penalty. THe legislature ended up passing it as written after over-riding the veto.
 
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